John Alphonse (X) Nov 10, 2013:

Also, what you now describe does not fit the definition of a "software-enabed" device, so no, upon further knowledge, you can't use that term.

John Alphonse (X) Nov 10, 2013:

Best term for legal field At that point, Sebastian, you may be better just keeping the originally-translated term, which is a good one. The legal profession is not going to really understand WAP and it is notorious for not keeping pace with the changes in technology. As was suggested elsewhere, just use or define the term whatever you choose once and then subsequently refer to it as "the device" - that would be more than sufficient. I'm glad the introduction of WAP at least helped give more perspective on the context here. All the best with the project.

Sebastian Witte (asker) Nov 9, 2013:

What I just found is that somewhere else it says "Nach erfolgreicher Autorisierung der Bezahlung wird das Bild eines Barcodes über WAP auf das WAP-fähige Mobiltelefon des Benutzers übertragen. WAP steht für „Wireless Application Protocol“ und bezeichnet „eine Sammlung von Techniken und Protokollen, deren Zielsetzung es ist, Internetinhalte für die langsamere Übertragungsrate und die längeren Antwortzeiten im Mobilfunk sowie für die kleinen Displays der Mobiltelefone verfügbar zu machen“ (Wikipedia)."

I wonder what that means for my translation?

Sebastian Witte (asker) Nov 9, 2013:

Thank you, David Moore. Good point.

David Moore (X) Nov 9, 2013:

I'm no patents expert, but if it is a legal battle, I for one wouldn't flinch from using "smart phone" sixteen times in a sentence if that's what the German text does. However bad it sounds.... After all, how much worse would it sound if you used "the above-mentioned portable device", or "software-enabled mobile telephone" sixteen times in the sentence???????????????? My solution would be to write "internet-enabled cell phone (smartphone)" (as you're obviously writing into US English) on the first occasion, the "smartphone" for all other occurrences.

The rest of the world seems to use "mobile phone" rather than "cell phone"...

Noni Gilbert Riley Nov 9, 2013:

Repetitions within sentence I'm just preparing the final draft of a translation about the comparative advantages of certain apps on smartphones... I know what you mean! I have been able to intersperse smartphone with "device", and even (given my context), a few "handsets". This is possible where the word appears for the second (or third...) time in a sentence, and so there is no possibility of ambiguity. Given that yours is a patent row, I would tread very carefully otherwise.

Yvonne Gallagher Nov 9, 2013:

Well, the original German translation doesn't tell us if the phone is smart or not. It depends on type of phone. I have 2 older phones that are Internet-enabled but they are not "smart" phones, just "mobiles" (UK) "cells" (US).
So, you will have to check it out to see if it is smart or not, which it most likely is as most phones are these days. In that case, you will have to keep "smartphone", as Tony says, although you may get away with using "device" or "phone" once it is established what it actually is early in the text.

Sebastian Witte (asker) Nov 8, 2013:

The original German reads (translated directly) Internet-enabled cell phone.